Tata gives blame-game a miss at Nano launch

March 23, 2009 19:40 IST

Ratan Tata was too busy soaking in the success of Nano's launch to point fingers at rivals, who he had earlier accused of trying to scuttle the Nano project.

"At this point, I have nothing to say to our competitors. We all are in a competitive environment... we will try to keep a good relationship with our competitors in a transparent manner," Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata told reporters after the commercial launch of Nano in Mumbai.

Tata had in the past blamed corporate rivals, without naming them, for putting a spanner in the Nano project leading to land acquisition problems in West Bengal. As a result, the project had to be shifted out of Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat. And this came at a cost.

Tata had then said that he would name the rivals at an appropriate time.

"They will be mentioned at an appropriate time," the 71-year-old industrialist quipped to a question on whether now was an appropriate time to name the rivals and also whether he would decide on retiring after Nano's launch as he had hinted before.

Among the chief critics of Nano was Suzuki Motor Corporation's chairman Osamu Suzuki, who had wondered if the car would be a three-wheeler with a stepney and also whether it would meet quality and safety norms.

Tata said when his group set out to make the Rs 100,000-car it was not aimed at creating an engineering paradigm shift but the primary focus was to enable to move Indian families at 'an affordable price'. The Nano meets Bharat Stage II and III norms and is ready for Bharat Stage IV norms too.